The camps at Calais are the engine room of the Channel crisis - and where the rule of law has completely collapsed

Rows of tents, smoke curling from fires, life jackets hanging from migrant’s hands carried with the same casual assurance as a passport. These men (and they were men) were brazenly preparing to break our laws and break into Britain. 

The camp I walked through was home to Eritreans and Afghans. The same nationalities who now dominate Channel crossings, and whose conviction rates for sexual offences are more than twenty times those of British citizens. I passed groups huddled around makeshift stoves, among them was a man carrying a life jacket, ready for the journey.

When I told him the crossing was illegal, he shrugged, as he knew about the hotels, he knew he could work once here, and he knew there was slight chance of being sent back. That certainty, the knowledge that Britain will take him in and keep him, is what fuels the journey.

Barely, fifteen minutes into speaking with a group of migrants, another man appeared holding a curved machete. These camps are places where the rule of law has completely collapsed, where the threat is standing in front of you. These people will soon be on our streets. 

As we turned to leave, glass bottles began to strike the ground around us. More came as we reached the car, hurled after us down the track as we hurriedly left the camp.

Later, I witnessed French police openly facilitating illegal immigration. In Gravelines, northern France, a group of migrants stood with bags slung over their shoulders. The French officers among them, one gestured towards a waiting public bus, while another guided people forward in small groups, ushering them up the steps. There was no attempt to check documents, no effort to turn them back.

The uniformed officers, on duty, were streamlining the process for those preparing to cross the Channel illegally, showing the migrants that there is no obstacle, only a smooth handover to the next stage of the journey.

These were not desperate families fleeing immediate danger, despite what Darren Jones may tell you. Every man I spoke to in Calais was already in France, a safe, democratic nation where asylum could be claimed. Yet not one of them had any intention of staying. That choice itself shatters any pretence that these crossings are acts of desperation.

They are calculated moves, made in full knowledge that Britain’s border regime is weaker, its benefits more generous, and its chances of enforcement minimal. Labour’s refusal to make our country's borders stronger is a betrayal of the British public and of our fracturing communities.

Earlier that morning we had visited the beaches, where the embarkations happen. And yet there were no French patrols, no sign of any attempt to disrupt what is now a daily operation. The gangs work in the open because they know there is no serious will to stop them.

This is the price of Labour’s border betrayal. We have now witnessed over 50,000 illegal arrivals since Keir Starmer took office. And instead of shutting down the routes, they have signed a migrant swap deal that protects the perpetrators.

Clause after clause in the deal provides get-outs to allow migrants to avoid removal – by claiming to be under 18, or by lodging made up modern slavery or human rights claims. It’s likely that attempts to return migrants will become bogged down in an endless legal quagmire. There are also no numbers in the deal – but reporting suggests that only 50 migrants a week will ever get removed.

Based on arrival numbers so far this year, that means that only 6 per cent of illegal immigrants will be removed and 94 per cent will stay in the UK. That will obviously not deter anyone. A truly absurd part is that the British taxpayer is footing the bill for all this. We may see a handful of staged removals for the cameras, while the real numbers keep climbing.

The migrants I met in Calais know all this because Labour have dismantled deterrents, gutted enforcement, and turned Britain’s border policy into the smugglers’ most potent sales pitch.

Unlike Labour, we will not allow this surrender to stand. The Conservatives have a clear plan to restore control. Our Deportation Bill would mean automatic deportation for all illegal arrivals; the disapplication of the Human Rights Act in immigration cases; a legally binding annual immigration cap; visa sanctions for countries that refuse to take back their nationals; and mandatory scientific age testing to end the scandal of adults posing as children.

Deterrence has never been clearer as the solution for this crisis. The National Crime Agency says as such, that without consequences for illegal entry, the crossings will not slow. Every arrival who stays sends the message that Britain is open, the journey is worth it. It is this very absence of deterrence that allows the Calais camps to exist and thrive. They are built on the certainty that once the Channel is crossed, the chances of removal are slim to none, hence why removals must be at the heart of the fight against illegal immigration.

We have seen it work elsewhere. When Australia introduced offshore removals, illegal maritime arrivals collapsed. Deterrence when it is real, when the promise of removal is backed by the act itself, the crossings will end.

And yet, Labour has torn that principle apart. They have let 95 per cent of arrivals remain in Britain. You cannot claim to be deterring crossings when almost everyone who arrives is allowed to stay.

The migrants in Calais do not need to study Britain’s immigration law in detail. They only need to know that once they set foot on our soil, an army of activist lawyers will fight to keep them here. Loopholes, injunctions, human rights claims, each one a lifeline for the people they traffic. That is why the Lawfare Commission launched by Kemi Badenoch matters. It will lay out exactly how we might dismantle the legal roadblocks to border control. And if the only way to restore sovereignty is to leave the ECHR – we will do it.

The camps at Calais are the engine room of the Channel crisis. What I saw on those beaches, in those tents, is the direct result of Labour dismantling deterrence and handing the initiative to the smugglers. Every day they refuse to act, more boats will launch, more lives will be risked, more our communities will fracture. Our borders will be worth less and less. But with clear laws, enforced removals, and the courage to face down the legal and political obstacles, we can stop the crossings and restore control. Until then, under Labour, that engine of illegal immigration runs at full throttle.

If we are serious about ending this, we cannot tinker with the gears, we have to shut it down.

____________________

Chris Philp is a Conservative MP and Shadow Home Secretary

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.